Rank
Title
Weekend
Gross
Cumulative
Gross
Weeks in Release
1

The Departed
$27,015,000

$27,015,000
1
2

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
$19,150,000

$19,150,000
1
3

Open Season

$16,000,000

$44,129,000
2
4

Employee of the Month

$11,800,000

$11,800,000
1
5

The Guardian

$9,643,000

$32,394,000
2
6

Jackass Number Two

$6.400,000

$62,693,000
3
7

School For Scoundrels

$3,413,000

$13,968,000
2
8

Gridiron Gang

$2,300,000
$36,621,000
4
9

Jet Li’s Fearless

$2,198,000
$21,660,000
3
10

The Illusionist

$1,825,000
$34,068,000
8

America, you have restored my faith in you. Sure, you don’t care about the suspension of habeas corpus and you would rather hear about Mark Foley’s creepy IMs than the revelation that George Tenet told Condoleeza Rice that Al Qaeda was attacking months before 9/11. But you came out in droves for the new Scorsese movie! The Departed is now Marty’s biggest opening, and his first #1 opening in 15 years. This is also great news for Warner Bros, who has been dealing with a 2006 slate that has been, economically speaking, a sucking chest wound.

People really wanted to hit the googleplexes this weekend, leading to strong showings from a number of movies, including the completely useless Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel, which came in a distant second to Scorsese but still managed to make back its budget. Open Season, one of last week’s two Ashton Kutcher movies, managed to stay be number three, keeping Dane Cook from having a triumphant opening weekend. Still, Employee of the Month is essentially about to become immediately profitable, so I guess my dreams of Cook’s career ending in a bloody wreck with Jessica Simpson’s will not come to pass.

There’s not much action of interest on the rest of the list, although Jackass Number Two is about to top the first film, and will probably spend another couple of weeks gathering some money. Next week is a rotten one at movie theaters, with The Grudge 2 assaulting audiences with PG-13 boredom and Robin Williams’ new film, Man of the Year, looking so bad he had to check himself into rehab to drum up some interest. Some of the smaller films in current limited release go wider, like Little Children and Shortbus, and I strongly recommend seeing them if they come your way.